Gallygirl's "A journey of 121,226.67 pounds begins with a single penny" diary

gallygirl

littlefred169 wrote: »

Although my tumble dryer still doesn't have a:smileyhea

Neither does mine anymore LF . Still, I'm going to visit my old one in August :j:j:j. I mean, I'm going to visit DS of course :rotfl:.

Good to see you back . Onwards and downwards .

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littlefred169

Of course why wouldn't you visit it I mean him?!

gallygirl

Just spent two weeks traveling up to, around and back from Northern Spain and I can officially announce the country is stark staring mad. Beautiful, but mad. We have witnessed (and occasionally taken part in):
Batalla del Clarete - running battle in the street where different wine yards supply massive quantities of rose wine to be thrown over everyone and used to fuel a hosepipe :rotfl:
Running of the Bulls - not Pamplona but a smaller one nearby (the Bulls didn't look any smaller though :eek:)
Recortadores - look this up on YouTube. They are absolutely mental. Bulls are not hurt (apart from one that got a bloody nose from repeatedly climbing out of the ring :eek::eek::eek: - that kept the crowd on their toes ), they are mainly a cross between being bored and a bit p***** off. The recortadores can and do get hurt - we saw one tossed and gored and taken off to hospital . It's a way to keep a tradition going and put the risk on the humans rather than the death of the bull.
Wannabe recortadores where after the bull run anyone who wants to can get in the ring and have a go :eek:. There are some fast runners out there .
Someone dressed as a bull on fire chasing people.
Whole towns of people decked out in white and red, pink or traditional costume.
Racing round the streets pushing a barrel.
Hen parties that go round the bars with their own band in attendance (look up charangas, great fun). Oh, and a wedding party taking to the street with their charanga in tow
Processions of giant people and giant heads.
Fireworks at night - and at 7am this morning (hence why I'm awake :rotfl:)
Towns where the shops shut for the whole week because the fiesta is on, despite the town being packed with tourists :cool:.
Towns with random feast days when the shops are shut (I appear to be good at inadvertently picking those days to visit )
Underground wine stores (who knew young wine was stored in massive concrete tanks?)
Absolutely stunning scenery - mountains, rivers, ports, pine covered hills, plains, field upon field of cheery sunflowers.
Glorious churches, basilicas, old buildings, transporter bridges.
Mile upon mile of vineyards :T.
A fabulous road network, a joy to drive on :T.
The odd bit of food and wine . Rioja at €1.20 a glass anyone :beer::beer:
Managing to get by in Spanish :T. But also encountering the Basque language - sounds Russian, managed to learn thank you. Now Valenciano - I've mastered the word for sausages :rotfl:
Temperatures ranging from 40+ during the day and 30+ all night :eek: to the bliss of 20+ during the day and 17 at night :j
Fabulous places to return to and spend proper time there - stunningly beautiful Zaragoza for instance (unfortunately still showing over 40 degrees at 8pm :eek:), a church in Xativa that moved me to tears , Bilbao that we didn't actually get into as we liked the suburb we were in :rotfl:.
So, a fabulous holiday, but yup, the whole country is stark staring mad :rotfl: The fireworks and band have finally stopped (or have lulled me into a false sense of security :rotfl:). Now off home for a rest

apple_muncher

Sounds absolutely awesome!

TallGirl

Sounds amazing you might as well explore where you live and yes they sound mad.

greent

Sounds great, gg!
x

Kittenkirst

Wonderful descriptions GG

AlexLK

Sounds fantastic apart from the heat. We're in Spain soon and hope it has cooled a little.

gallygirl

It truly was a great trip :T. And hopefully Lucifer is passing us by after today , as I am still in my nightie :rotfl:, having ventured outside only to hang out washing and bring it in . Have done just over 2,000 steps :eek::rotfl::o.

Back to normal tomorrow - aquafit then Pilates, need to do some banking shenanigans and hand something in for repair. Best fit in time for a cafe con leche as well . Then up to apartment as I'm selling a mattress and have other stuff to sort out.

shangaijimmy

Sounds like a truly memorable & wonderful 2 weeks.